Packers Lions Preview

Sunday afternoon can't come soon enough as the Packers will play host to the winless Lions in Green Bay. After Monday night’s game, the Packers biggest need was to get back on the field against another opponent and exorcise the mistakes that plagued them against the bears. No doubt Green Bay has stressed discipline all week following a franchise record in penalties against the Bears, and they'll need it as they go against a Lions team that has been extremely competitive, despite their losses, three games into the season. Detroit played Chicago and Philadelphia very close and wasn't out of the Minnesota game until late in the contest; making Adrian Peterson single handedly lead the Vikings to victory by containing Brett Favre’s performance. Despite having the 26th ranked defense in the league and the 18th ranked offense the Lions have still managed to force the best out of their opponents. Some would argue they actually did beat the Bears, but were robbed of a game-winning touchdown due to uncertainty in the rulebooks. Although Detroit has weapons, namely running back Jahvid Best who has found the end zone 5 times which tops the NFL, and Calvin Johnson who has always been a thorn in the Packers' secondary’s side. All sources point towards Shaun Hill starting again this week, in the absence of former first-overall draft pick Matthew Stafford out due to injury, who has done surprisingly well throwing 3 touchdowns and was not picked off against the Eagles or the Vikings.

The Packers will have a lot of work to do on the offensive side of the ball and there's no better remedy than an under average defense like Detroit's, although they will have to keep rookie Ndamukong Suh off of Aaron Rodgers as he has settled into the NFL pace quite nicely. The Packers may look to run the ball a little more and hopefully distance either Kuhn or Jackson from the other in hopes of getting a number one back that can actually impact a game and who the Packers can rely on. The defense should not have too many problems as long as they can continue to stop the run game and pressure the quarterback against a team that’s given up 5 sacks so far. Calvin Johnson and company can keep it close though; expect Detroit to spread the field after seeing Chicago exposed a few weaknesses against Sam Shields and Packer linebackers dropping back into coverage.

Green Bay could be shocked following a very disappointing performance, but I don’t see it happening. The Packers will not be caught off guard and are going to be playing with a chip on their shoulder. Expect Clay Matthews to make a couple visits to Shaun Hill and Aaron Rodgers to keep lighting it up as they don’t give Detroit a chance to hang around in this one. This Sunday the Packers will continue to dominate the Lions at Lambeau, as they light it up in a big way; final score, Packers-31 Lions-10.